‘Sons of Anarchy’ recap: Ending with a bang, some cuts and a rat-a-tat-tat

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Pacing is one of my favorite things about ‘Sons of Anarchy’ -- that creepy tension creator Kurt Sutter so deftly builds with nicey-nice scenes that ultimately lead to murder. The conclusion to Season 3 uses that technique to great effect, beginning with a lovey montage of Jax snuggling Tara, Jax cuddling Abel, Clay nuzzling Gemma and Agent Stahl actually smiling as she runs her hand over the bed linens once occupied by the lover she killed in the last episode.

You just know something bad is about to go down. And, since the IRA storyline needs to play out, it’s sure to involve Jimmy O and Stahl.

Last week, impossible as it seemed, Stahl appeared to be living up to her end of the deal: Getting Gemma off the hook for murder and helping the MC get out of serving major time. And Gemma, it seemed, posed a major threat to that deal by turning herself in.

But we all know nothing is ever what it seems in ‘Sons of Anarchy.’ As Gemma so wisely commented, ‘There’s no trust. Something will go wrong. Somebody will get hurt. I promise you: It’ll end badly.’

The question is: For whom? It’s quite a trick that ‘Sons of Anarchy’ has viewers rooting for the murderous members of SAMCRO, who are just as nefarious as the Irish gunrunner Jimmy and the Machiavellian Stahl. This episode even saw Sonny Barger, one of the best-known and longest-standing members of the real Hells Angels, make a star turn as Lenny the pimp.

At least Jimmy got what was coming to him. So did Stahl. But will SAMCRO?

Probably not. But that won’t be clear until next season.

-- Susan Carpenter